Learn the Gospel

Gospel isn’t a word that we often us in our everyday conversations with co-workers or when we are playing video games with our friends. This can lead us to be confused by what it actually means. The word gospel is a greek word that is literally translated, “Good news that is being announced.” If you have heard Christians talk about the gospel before, this is what we are talking about. We believe that the good news for us is that we are so lost and broken that on our own we could not find God or have a relationship with God, so God, because of how much God loves His people and His world, came to find us and save us.

When Jesus Christ came to earth, He became a man, an ordinary man, who lived an ordinary life and had an ordinary job. In the gospel of John, he writes “The Word (Jesus Christ) became flesh and made his dwelling among us full of grace and truth” (John 1: 14 NIV). But the difference between Jesus and us is that Jesus never did anything wrong. He lived as a human the way God meant for humans to live when He created them. But what is so amazing about the good news is that Jesus actually took His perfect life and transferred it to those who trust Him and follow Him.

Jesus Christ also transferred our lostness and brokenness onto Himself and carried it to the cross where He willingly took upon Himself the consequences that we should have received for our actions against God. In this act, which we often refer to as the crucifixion of Jesus, once and for all, Jesus Christ made a way for us to be find God and be in relationship with Him. He is God who came to us. This is why He says in one of the four gospels (books about the good news)in the Bible, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV). When Jesus Christ rose from the dead, three days after His crucifixion, He showed us that death does not have a hold on Him, or anyone else who commits their lives to Him.

What this means is that the good news tells the story about how God, through His son, Jesus Christ, is making all things, including our own lives, new! Through Jesus, our story is changed! The apostle Paul talks about this when he says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor. 5:17 NIV) In fact, God is making all things new!

This means that the good news is different than good advice, good direction, or good counseling. It is the story of what God has done for us, how He has made a way for us to find Him and have a relationship with Him. This means that Jesus is more than a moral teacher who we should look up to but that Jesus is God who has come to save us and our world. This is what led the apostle Paul to write “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NIV).

So what next? Well, a Christian, or believer in the good news, is a person who commits their lives to following Jesus. Jesus Himself invites us to do this when he says, “Repent and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15 NIV)  Repenting, means to turn away. A Christian is a person who turns away from doing things their own way and trying to find happiness or meaning apart from God. A Christian is also a person who believes and trusts in Jesus alone as the one who makes it possible for them to find God and have a relationship with Him.

Perhaps you have been struggling to make sense of life and why we are here on earth. Maybe you know that there has to be more to life than what you are experiencing now but aren’t sure what that is or how to find it. We believe that God is at work in our lives all the time and opens our eyes to see the beauty of the good news. If you feel interested or curious about the good news, we would love to connect with you.